Philippine Hog farmers seek gov. assistance

Philippine hog raisers are seeking government
assistance in the form of a zero tariff on feed ingredients and farm equipment
and establishment of a diagnostic laboratory to help them recover from the
adverse impact of the diseases that wreaked havoc on their farms last
year.

The industry filed the necessary petition in March but the Tariff
Commission has yet to act on it. As feeds account for 65-70 percent of the
industry's cost, the increase from P69 ($1.54) per kilo earlier this year to P80
($1.79) per kilo is an extra burden for farmers.

Last year, about 30
percent of the country's backyard swine farms were wiped out and more than 20
percent of commercial farms were adversely affected by swine diseases, including
a strain of the porcine reproduction and
respiratory syndrome.

Gabriel Uy, chairman of the National Federation
of Hog Farmers Inc., said at a news briefing that â€œthe problem is we have no
proper diagnostic laboratory to identify the disease strains that hit local
hogs, so we do not know what vaccine we should administerâ€. A state-of-the art
diagnostic lab would allow proper identification of these diseases.